CHAPTER XIV
AN UNEXPECTED TARGET
At quarters for muster and inspection that day the four Navy boys fromSeacove were given their numbers and drill placements. These were, ofcourse, not permanent assignments. Changes would quickly be made afterthe capabilities of the boys were established. Especially would this beso in assignments of duty relating to the ship when in action.
The four friends had Mr. MacMasters to say a good word for them. Theirrecord, too, aboard the _Colodia_ and with the prize crew on thecaptured German raider would be taken into consideration when permanentappointments were made upon the _Kennebunk_.
Hans Hertig immediately took his rightful position as boatswain's mate.His rating was assured. But, after all, the apprentice seamen must provethemselves before the officers of the superdreadnaught were likely togive them much consideration.
The act of particular courage that had brought Whistler Morgan intoprominence on the submarine chaser the night before would scarcely betaken public notice of by Captain Trevor of the _Kennebunk_ until it wasmentioned in orders from Washington. Ensign MacMasters, however, likedthe boy too well not to take the first opportunity offered him to relatethe happening on the S. P. 888 at officers' mess. After this it ofcourse quickly reached the captain's ears.
Whistler and Torry immediately put in their claim for gunnery work. Theyhad studied faithfully and had had considerable training with thesecondary battery of the _Colodia_.
"Of course, these huge guns of the _Kennebunk_ mean something elseagain," declared Ikey. "You fellers have been playin' with popguns yet.If you get in a turret gun crew you've got to show 'em."
"We'll do just that little thing," answered Torry rather boastfully.
There was not likely to be practice with the big guns until the weatherchanged. The _Kennebunk_ roared on through the storm for all of thatday; but her hull was so huge that she scarcely rolled while sheremained under steam.
Most target shooting is arranged for ordinarily fair weather. Not oftenhave battles at sea been fought in a storm. Besides, the _Kennebunk_must run off the coast, beyond the approved steamship lines, to a pointwhere she could be joined by a naval vessel dragging the target.
There were lectures on gunnery that day to the gun captains, and theboys off duty who were interested in the subject might listen to thisinstruction. Phil Morgan and Torrance availed themselves of theprivilege.
The two younger chums, Michael Donahue and Ikey Rosenmeyer, were not, itmust be confessed, so well employed. During this first day aboard the_Kennebunk_ there was bred between these youths a scheme which certainlywould not have met with the approval of the executive officer.
In their quarters aboard the destroyer _Colodia_ they would not havebeen able to stow the junk they now secured away from the watchful eyesof the master-at-arms. In the destroyer their ditty boxes had to hideany private property the boys wanted to stow away.
But a man could lose himself in the various decks of thesuperdreadnaught. Even the officers' quarters were forward with thecrew's, the ship was so huge. There were unused rooms and compartmentsfor which Ikey and Frenchy did not know the names, or their uses.
In one of these unoccupied compartments the two found a lot of lumberand rubbish amid which were some joints of two-inch galvanized pipe theplumbers and pipe fitters had left when the ship was being furnished.
"Gee, Ikey!" murmured the agile-minded Irish lad, "I've got an idea."
"I bet you," returned Ikey. "You always have ideas. But is this oneworth anything?"
"Listen here!" and Frenchy, with dancing eyes, whispered into hisfriend's ear the details of the new-born scheme.
"Oi, oi!" cried Ikey. "It is an idea, sure enough. But it is trouble youare looking for."
"Not a bit of it. We needn't tell anybody--not even Whistler or Al. Gee!it will be great."
"Mebbe the old man won't say so." He was referring to Captain Trevor,but in no disrespectful way. "Old Man" is rather a term of admirationand affection applied to the commander of a ship.
"Lots he'll be botherin' about what we do," sniffed Frenchy.
Ikey was already enamored of his friend's plan. His objections were veryweak.
"Ah, g'wan!" reiterated Frenchy. "You won't get into the brig for it,that's sure. I'll do it alone. Only see that you keep your mouth shutabout it, if you won't help."
But Ikey had no intention of seeing his friend have all the fun of thething. He stopped objecting, and thereafter gave his hearty assistancein the plot.
At odd times during that day and the next the two rigged a weightedplatform into which could be fixed upright lengths of the two-inch pipethey had found.
Rigged to suit them at last, the two boys took their appliance to piecesagain and hid the parts away until a to-be-determined time. They wereplanning to have a joke upon the whole ship's company; but they wereforced to wait for the appropriate moment in which to spring thesurprise.
The third morning out revealed a clearing sky and subsiding waves; andthe regular ship's routine at sea was taken up.
"Officers' call" was sounded five minutes before the "assembly" buglecall at 9:15. At the later call men of the various divisions fall insmartly at double time for muster in the respective parts of the ship.The men are inspected at this time regarding the condition of theirclothing, length of hair, personal cleanliness, and whether or not theyare carefully shaved.
This last requirement troubled the four friends from Seacove but little,save that Whistler and Torry occasionally wore a little fuzz on theircheeks, which Frenchy declared they lathered surreptitiously withcream, then let the ship's cat lick it off.
"If they had a real ship's cat on this iron pot," retorted Torry,"I know who would most frequently have the attention of that. Youneed the cat-o'-nine-tails right now, Frenchy."
"Gee! ain't he bloodthirsty and savage?" whispered Michael, who dearlyloved to tease.
The petty officers who personally inspected the men at this morningreview reported to the division officer, who in turn reported to theexecutive officer of the ship, who is always the navigating officer.
After the reports the physical drill, or setting-up exercises, is theorder. These calisthenics are similar to that drill in the army.
It was on this third day that the boys were assigned to the watches andto their divisions for the cruise. The ship's company is divided intoport and starboard watches, each watch being organized into divisions.Each turret is manned by a division, numbered in rotation, beginningwith Number One from forward aft. To the delight of Philip Morgan and AlTorrance they were both assigned to Number Two division, and would bemembers of the crew of a big gun in the second turret.
The broadside batteries were partly manned by marines, of whom therewere a large number aboard the _Kennebunk_. These "soldiers of the sea"had always interested Whistler and his friends.
For convenience in making out station bills and the like, each man of adivision has a number assigned him by which he is known. Whistler andTorry were given respectively Numbers 2111 and 2112. These numbersshowed that they were Numbers 11 and 12 of the first section of thesecond division--the first figure for division, the second for section,and the remainder the personal number of the man in his section.
The watches, meaning the length of time into which the twenty-four hoursaboard ship is divided, are arranged on a naval vessel as in allmaritime affairs.
The first watch is from 8:00 P. M. till midnight. The mid-watch, or"graveyard watch," is from midnight till 4:00 A. M.; the morning watchfrom 4:00 till 8:00 A. M.; the forenoon watch from 8:00 A. M. tillmid-day; the afternoon watch from noon till 4:00 P. M.; and thedog-watches, each of which is but two hours long, are from 4:00 till6:00 P. M. and from 6:00 till 8 P. M.
The Seacove boys were already well trained in the general duties thatfell to their share, even though they had never cruised upon asuperdreadnaught. Now they had the special duties of looking after theguns in the turret to which they were attached. Gun drill wouldhereafter o
ccupy a part of their time each forenoon.
As the weather cleared the lookouts all over the ship kept sharper watchthan they had before for any moving object on the sea. They had seen thesmoke of steamships and the sails of other vessels during the storm, buthad not spoken a single craft since leaving port.
The _Kennebunk_ frequently received and sent wireless messages; but themessages were evidently unimportant for they caused no flurry ofexcitement. The Seacove boys were expecting some news of submarines, orthe capture of the "mother ship," which they believed was cruising offthe coast to supply German U-boats with fuel. But no news of this kindcame to their ears.
The big battleship was now nearing the point where they could expect tomeet the auxiliary naval vessel towing the target.
"Pretty soft! Pretty soft!" said one chap in Whistler's gun crewdisgustedly. "Pretty soft for us! We fellows going out to targetpractice, while those battleships already on the other side of thisperiscope pond may be fighting the Fritzies off Heligoland."
"We'll get a chance at a sub maybe," said another more hopefully.
"No such luck," growled the first speaker. "We'll just about get shot atwith a torpedo from one of those pirates. We'd never have the good luckto plant a shell in a U-boat where it would do the most good. No, sir!"
There was so much that was new for the four boys from Seacove to learnaboard the superdreadnaught that they did not worry much about gettinginto immediate action. Target practice with the big guns would spellexcitement enough for the time being, they thought.
Meanwhile Michael Donahue and Ikey Rosenmeyer were having a secret allto themselves that kept them breaking out in "the giggles" atunseasonable times, so that the master-at-arms gave them two reprimandswithin the twenty-four hours. Another would be likely to put their nameson the report--an incident that was always to be regretted.
The battleship was steaming through a flattening sea at half speed. Wordhad been passed from one of the masthead lookouts that smoke wassighted. The executive officer said it was probably the auxiliary shipwith the target in tow. The report brought almost everybody who was freeto the open decks.
But Frenchy and Ikey showed an unexplained lack of interest in thisincident. They remained below and, seizing their chance unobserved,slipped into the spare compartment on the lower deck in which thelumber was stowed.
Just abaft this compartment was an ash-chute. As the sea was now calm,the ash-hoist had been at work that morning and the trap-door of thechute had not been relocked. This door kicked open outboard, giving ventupon the sea, the opening being about ten feet above the waterline ofthe _Kennebunk_.
The two chums were deeply engaged in the compartment for some time whilethe crew and officers on deck watched the approach of the target boat.The course of that and the battleship would bring the two withinspeaking distance in an hour or less.
Suddenly Ikey croaked a warning: "Hist! What's that, Frenchy?"
"What's what?" puffed his friend, just then very much engaged infastening together two joints of pipe. "Don't try to scare a fellow.Nobody's coming."
"Listen!" commanded Ikey.
Michael sat back on his heels, cocking his head to listen. It was nofootstep outside the compartment slide. It was not that kind of sound atall. And it was faint--so faint indeed that perhaps the noises of thestorm since they had left port had quite smothered the queer sound.
"A clock?" Frenchy suggested.
"Funny sounding clock," whispered Ikey Rosenmeyer. "And where can itbe?"
"Tick-_tock_! Tick-_tock_! Tick-_tock_!" The emphasis upon the seconddivision of the sound was unmistakable. It did not seem like any clockthe boys had ever heard.
"That's never a ship's chronometer, you know, that," declared Frenchy.
"What is it, then?" was his chum's worried demand.
"Oh, bother! Don't care what it is," returned Frenchy. "Give us a handhere, Ike. Want me to do all the work alone, do you?"
Frenchy was really getting cross. There are plenty of noises of one kindor another about a ship. One more noise he did not think mattered.
But Ikey continued to raise his head now and then to listen to the"tick-tock" sound. It puzzled him, and he determined to tell Whistlerabout it.
Their work was completed at length, and Frenchy crept out into thepassage to look about. There was nobody in this part of the ship savethemselves.
The two mischievous youths tugged the result of their labor out to theash-chute. The time was propitious. The battleship and the auxiliarywere approaching each other and signals were being exchanged. CaptainTrevor was on the quarterdeck and word was passed that target practicewould immediately begin. In a moment Frenchy and Ikey darted out on deckand joined their mates without being observed by the master-at-arms.Whistler and Al Torrance were already hovering about their stations. Ifthe guns of Number Two turret got a chance, they hoped to have a hand inthe manipulation of them.
Suddenly there came a hail from the masthead:
"Q'deck-ahoy-sir!"
The boy up there ran his cry altogether in his excitement. Thenavigating officer replied.
"Submarine astern, sir! Can see the periscope bobbing, sir!" was thestatement that changed the entire atmosphere of the battleship from thatof mere curiosity and interest to the wildest excitement.